1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight unit and a liquid crystal display having the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a backlight unit with a light emitting diode block assembly connected thereto, and a liquid crystal display having the backlight unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, flat panel displays such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and plasma display panels (PDPs) have been developed to replace cathode ray tubes (CRTs). However, unlike PDPs, LCDs do not have a self light-emitting structure and thus utilize a light source. Therefore, current LCDs commonly employ a variety of light sources. These light sources are typically used as backlights, and are thus usually disposed in the rear of an LCD panel. In general, these backlights usually employ a point light source such as a light emitting diode (LED), a linear light source such as an electroluminescent lamp (EL), or a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL).
Problems have arisen with LED backlights used with LCDs larger than 40 inches. Due to current limitations in the surface mount technology (SMT) used to mount these LEDs, larger-size LED fields must be grouped into blocks of LEDs, which are connected to each other. Currently, these LED blocks are physically and electrically connected to each other by wired connectors.
This connection method requires mounting the connector, including its wiring, before connecting the LED blocks. During this process, electrical connections may not be formed properly, resulting in unreliable electrical connections. Moreover, as the number of connectors and the amount of wiring increases, it has become more difficult to reliably accommodate the increased amount of wiring within the space constraints of the connectors.